Elmore Leonard dies… we’ll miss him on the page and on the screen

“Elmore passed away this morning at 7:15 AM at home surrounded by his loving family. More to follow.”

The writer responsible for stylish crime thrillers with such dark wit and sharp dialogue that many became excellent films — “Get Shorty” and “Out of Sight” among them — was 87.

Leonard’s 1992 novel, “Rum Punch,” was adapted for the screen as “Jackie Brown,” Quentin Tarantino’s 1997 hit. Two of Leonard’s novels and a short story featuring Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens became the basis for the FX series “Justified.”

Earlier this month, Leonard was in a Detroit hospital recovering from a stroke. The prolific author had been working on his 46th book.

I admired Leonard by way of the movies, and as I watched the official trailer to “Get Shorty,” shown below, I was reminded of how deadpan his dialogue could be, and how his stories always seemed to draw the best actors around.